Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Tomie: Complete Deluxe Edition by Junji Ito

10 reviews

asipofcozy's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First Junji Ito work I have ever read, and it definitely won't be the last! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Toxic friendship, Murder, Torture, Suicide, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Grief, Child death, Cannibalism, Violence, Self harm, Bullying, Body shaming, Blood, Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

kkalicky94's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Toxic friendship, Grief, Suicide, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Self harm, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse

muh_hahaha's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Tomie is a series of short horror stories about this girl named Tomie and how she influences other people's lives. These stories are told in other people's povs and never in Tomie's view. She's a very interesting character as these stories go on as her movitives seems to shift as she continues to multiple.

 
The more she dies and multiple, she more she becomes more inhumane and embraces her supernatural beauty and charm over the people she meets. The people who survive her, are left insane but it's also sad to see how she is portrayed as the root of evil in some of these stories when in reality, it the obsession of these men and their desire for Tomie, that make these stories so horroric. 
<end spoilers>
What make these horror stories so effective is that we don't know how Tomie came to be, exactly, or how she came to gain her power. We don't know if Tomie was once human (and it's my personal belief she was) or if she was always some inhumane monster and I think that unknown mystery is something that drives the horror in these stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Violence, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Gaslighting, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Infertility

bugcollector's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

Perhaps Uzumaki was a flock. 
The artwork there was enchanting and hypnotizing, so it was fine by me ignoring the lacking plot.
However, in Tomie plot is all you got, and it's not good. 

It's The same story over and over again. Tomie gets abused sure, but in the end she's boy crazy, self obsessed, materialistic, and enjoys killing boys and making girls jealous. 
Minor bitch comments here and there, casual sexism every few pages, Junji Ito can't help it can he? 
I don't know what are we supposed to take from Tomie besides hating women a little bit? 
Boring, tedious, monotonous, flat, one dimensional, even demonizing. 
Took me a while to finish. 
It did suprisengly passed the Bechdel test in one scene- two named characters talk about their obsession with Tomies' hair. 

After being disappointed and dissatisfied with reading Gyo and No longer human as well, I think I'll end my Junji Ito journey here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Torture, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse

mermaidsherbet's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Classism, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, and Incest

kazli's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I love seeing the art style progress and seeing how the different stories tie in together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Gore, Grief, Self harm, Stalking, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Torture, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Blood, and Suicide attempt

strabbyfieldz's review

dark funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

a little repetitive (which I kinda love because it reflects how Tomie continually regenerates until she's an idea, a concept, an echo of the former school girl malleable to the shape of whatever society demands) and definitely rough around the edges (which again I can forgive because on a meta-level it works as a way of Tomie's identity being completely consumed and her influence and power growing stronger as the art style improves) but man do I love this manga. idk if its a Duchess of Malfi type deal where the intent was more to be shocking and ended up with loads of really interesting ideas about being a woman, but dang Ito really did strike gold and wrote something evocative, horrifying and also pretty tragic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Bullying

mydearwatsonbooks's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Gore, Murder, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Stalking, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Terminal illness, Infertility, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Child death

booksthoughtsandtea's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Horrific. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

badbitchwithabook's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Self harm, and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

There are MANY trigger warnings for this book. I still gave the overall story and art 5 stars and would recommend it to any horror fans or avid manga readers who can handle some dark topics.